[rescue] Slightly OT: Bad Cap Saga

[Phil Stracchino]

Curious George wrote:
> --- On Mon, 8/18/08, Geoffrey S. Mendelson <gsm at mendelson.com> wrote:
>> Each one is a manufacturer, they do something to put it
>> together. They buy a raw material, whether it's aluminum
>> foil to make the capacitors, or
>> the assembled boards and wire them together.
>> Each step along the way, someone builds, and possibly tests each unit. 
> 
> Yes, that was my point...
> 
>> Generally no one sells their product with a warranty.
> 
> Well, we know the *final* manufacturer who sells to John Q Public
> does!  Are you saying that the rest of the chain is all "caveat
> emptor"?  So, the poor fool who walks into a Wal-Mart and "takes
> a chance" on some cheap piece of kit is actually getting a
> *better* "deal" than the rest of the folks in the chain?  :-<


There is a relevant true story from a vanished age ....

Back when IBM first started contracting with Japanese suppliers, they
gave one such supplier a spec which included a clause requiring a
maximum of ten defective parts per thousand (or some such number, I
don't recall the precise number).  When the shipment arrived, they
opened it up and found, on top of all the packaged parts, a small
separate package and a letter.

The letter read,
"We do not understand why you wish to have ten defective parts per
thousand, but they are included per your request.  For your convenience,
we have packaged them separately."


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.